1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and program for producing small prints. For example, the invention can be applied to a dedicated tape printing apparatus, a tape printing system in which a personal computer and a label printer are integrated, a dedicated stamp (seal) producing apparatus, and a stamp producing system in which the personal computer and a peripheral apparatus for producing the stamp are integrated, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, the dedicated tape printing apparatus prints a string of inputted characters (it is assumed that the character string is a concept including a symbol, a pictograph, an outer frame, and a background pattern) in a continuous tape according to need, and discharges and cuts the printed tape. The post-cutting tape in which the character string is printed is referred to as label.
As the tape printing apparatus becomes widespread, the application of the label is increased and various people use the tape printing apparatus. For example, in public places such as a railroad station and sightseeing site where many people come and go, the label is used rather than a marking plate in order to indicate a toilet or an emergency exit. In the label used for the public place, it is preferable to use a pictogram, the pictograph, or the logo (hereinafter these are collectively referred to as logo) in which a public mark is applied in order to recognize contents of a notation regardless of age, sex, or nationality. However, in the conventional tape printing apparatus, an external character registration function is often required in order to print the logo such as the public mark on the label (for the external character registration function, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-115167).
It is preferable that the label having various languages is bonded in the place where people of diverse nationalities come and go. When the tape printing apparatus for Japanese, the tape printing apparatus for German, and the like are individually prepared, such demands can be satisfied. However, since it is necessary to prepare many apparatuses, it is not realistic as the method of corresponding to the plurality of languages.
In the conventional tape printing apparatus, there is the tape printing apparatus which can input the English character in addition to the Japanese character, and the user can input a notation in both languages to add the notation in both languages to the label. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-109470 proposes a tape printing apparatus having a function of producing the label such that a vocabulary notebook in which the Japanese character strings are printed in one surface and the corresponding English character strings are printed in the other surface can be produced by inputting the Japanese character string is inputted to instruct the printing after a vocabulary notebook producing mode is instructed, when the printed label is folded in the center to adhere to each other.
However, in the conventional apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-109470, translation information (English-Japanese dictionary, Japanese-English dictionary, and the like) which can produce the vocabulary notebook is not utilized as other functions, so that the conventional apparatus does not achieve high cost performance. Namely, a user can utilize the translation dictionary only as the production of the vocabulary notebook.
Further, in the case where the conventional apparatus has a function of registering an external character of a logo such as a public mark, it takes a long time to produce the label including the logo such as the public mark.
There are a few conventional tape printing apparatuses in which some of the logos such as the public mark are prepared as the symbol, however, those apparatuses have the following problem. Even if the logo such as the public mark is applied, sometimes it is useful to print the character string with the logo. For example, in the case where a recognition rate of a certain logo differs among countries, it is preferable to print complimentarily the character string of the language of the country in which the recognition rate is low. However, since character types are limited in the conventional tape printing apparatus, it is difficult to print the character string with the logo. Even if the character string can be inputted in the desired language, it is necessary to perform a logo selection operation and a character string input operation which is independent of the logo selection operation, so that a long time is required for the operation of the production of the label.